People are freaking out over a big change Snapchat made to its app

Alex Heath

Wednesday

Jul 15, 2015 at 3:30 PM

Snapchat is one of the hottest social networks on the planet, but a lot of people are freaking out over a big change Snapchat made to its app.

If you don't know anything about Snapchat, this is the general idea: you take a photo or short video (also called a "snap") and share it with other people. After it's viewed, the snap disappears forever.

But lately Snapchat has been adding more features to make itself a place for all kinds of entertainment beyond just sending snaps. And it's one of those changes that's made so many people angry.

Earlier this week, Snapchat tweaked the design of its app to more prominently feature its live events coverage and Discover, a collection of hand-picked media partners that pump out daily content designed specifically for viewing on Snapchat.

Since the update, the app has been flooded with nearly 2,000 one-star reviews in Apple's App Store, criticizing the decision to place Discover and live events above other people's individual snap stories. The feedback is so negative that Snapchat's average review rating in the App Store has dropped from two-in-a-half to one-in-a-half stars.

Snapchat did not respond to Business Insider's request for comment.

"Nobody views the discover page"

Discover, which includes video and text stories from media partners like CNN, Vice, and The Daily Mail, was previously limited to its own tab to the right of the main Stories window. This meant that if you wanted to see a story from Vice, you had to actively seek it out.

Now, Discover is lumped in where you view all of your friends' stories, so you see the logos from Snapchat's media partners anytime you want to see a new story.

"This discover thing is so dumb"
"A horrible, useless feature"

Snapchat has already been criticized heavily for its confusing interface. It's a common complaint among the app's nearly 67,000 one-star App Store reviews. And the last couple of updates don't seem to be making things better.

The option to hide live stories has been removed, and people want it back.

Because Snapchat auto-loads some live event stories, people have also complained that the app is using up their valuable data on videos they don't even want to watch.

"No one wants to see something that's completely unrelated to what they WANT to see"
"It's like you're forcing it down our throats"
Reviews are more positive among Android users on Google Play.

Out of nearly three-in-a-half million reviews in the Google Play store, the average rating for Snapchat is four stars. Not bad.

But there are still haters.
People just don't see the point of Discover.

Tweet Embed:https://twitter.com/mims/statuses/621201997052514304Snapchat puts Discover in your face now right on Stories. My friend's teenager daughter says she still ignores it pic.twitter.com/NGXL8robuE

Does all this mean Snapchat is doomed? Far from it. The Venice, California based startup is worth an estimated $16 billion and rapidly adding new users.

But are these concerns worth paying attention to? Probably, especially if Snapchat wants its advertising business model to take off. Advertisers are paying huge rates to be part of Discover, but if the feature doesn't do well, it could be trouble for Snapchat.

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SEE ALSO: What millennials think of Snapchat Discover

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